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Today’s Warm-up. What does the word “romantic” mean to you? Jot down at least FIVE IDEAS that come to mind when you hear this word. . American Romanticism 1800-1855. How does history shape literature?. The literature of the romantic period was molded by the great events that preceded it….
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Today’s Warm-up • What does the word “romantic” mean to you? • Jot down at least FIVE IDEAS that come to mind when you hear this word.
American Romanticism1800-1855 How does history shape literature?
The literature of the romantic period was molded by the great events that preceded it…
The Changing Landscape of America • Manifest Destiny: Americans believed it was their God-given destiny to claim all of the land stretching from Atlantic to Pacific. This lead to… • Westward Expansion: Explorers charted and developed the previously unclaimed lands West of the Mississippi River. • Motivated by desire for money and land. • Resulted in displacing Native Americans and wars with Mexico. • Beautiful, untouched land became rapidly replaced with industrialized cities.
The Industrial Revolution • Technology and business boom motivated by westward expansion and involvement in wars • Farms were replaced with factories • Cities became overcrowded (and as they did, westward expansion continued) • Workers had long hours, low wages, poor conditions, and all ages worked (including VERY small children)—this was before worker’s rights • This showed a lack of morals in the industry—Americans became wrapped up in money and materials
America became torn over social issues and people began to cry out for social reform… • Tension over slavery began to rise. • The industrial revolution led to a need for more cotton, thus more slaves to work the farms. • Every new territory added to the country through the expansion added to the tug-of-war between the north and the south over who would get more support. • The South resented the North as they felt that they were being used for Northern wealth. • The rights of women and workers became an important issue. • Women were little more than a man’s possession and weren’t allowed to vote, serve on juries, or get a real education. • Women even lacked control over their own children. Many fought at this time for equality. • Workers suffered in poor conditions in the vastly expanding Industrial Revolution. • Advocates fought to create workers’ unions to gain more rights.
And then came the conflict between Nationalism vs. Sectionalism… • Nationalism: the belief that national interests should be placed ahead of regional concerns. • Because of the “nationalism” movement, writers began to abandon the old English ways of doing things and develop a wholly new American style. • This was the beginning of what we consider today to be distinctively American literature. • This was our chance to have American writing and to not just copy Britain’s achievements. • Sectionalism: placing the interests of a region ahead of those of the nation. • The differences which divided the north and south became more potent than ever. • The south had to buy products from the north which were overpriced, making southerners feel they were being taken advantage of by the northerners. • The north felt the south’s use of slaves was immoral.
The Early Romantics – a response to all of this crazy history… • As the ideals of our new country began to shift and change, so did the literature. • American Romanticism mirrored British Romanticism, but was most directly a reaction against the reason of the Enlightenment and the strict religious doctrines of the Puritans.
Characteristics of Romanticism • Early Americans looked to democracy and organized religion for inspiration; Romantics looked to nature. • Early Americans found knowledge through reason, logic, and the bible; Romantics found knowledge through their emotions, imagination, and nature. • Early Americans strived for a group identity; Romantics celebrated individuality. • Early Americans found spiritual truth in organized religion and feared God; Romantics found spiritual truth in nature and had intimate relationships with God. • The Early American literary voice mimicked the British; Romantics were patriotic and strove for a unique American style. • Early Americans wrote essays, speeches, and sermons; Romantics wrote poems. • Early Americans were interested in soldiers and sinners; Romantics were interested in the common man.
Review: Elements of Poetry • Theme: Insight about human life revealed in the work; is an arguable statement; complete sentence. • Subject: What the work is literally about; one or two specific words. • Speaker: Who is talking the poem; DO NOT assume that it is the author! • Stanza: A paragraph in a poem.
